This invention relates to substituted 3-nitropyridine compounds used as sensitizers of hypoxic tumor cells to therapeutic radiation. It also relates to the process of preparing such compounds by aminating chloro-3-nitropyridines to produce the substituted 3-nitropyridines.
At the present time, certain other unrelated compounds are in experimental clinical use as radiation sensitizers. However, these compounds--for example, metronidazole and misonidazole--suffer from the drawback that they also cause neurotoxicity which limits their usefulness. The compounds of the present invention are effective radiation sensitizers, and are believed to have a more favorable therapeutic ratio.